The Color of Blood
by MissVampyre
Summary: There was blood everywhere, the crimson shade filled his mind and haunted his dreams. "You can tell me," she muttered softly, and Sasuke did. slight AU in that Madara never makes an appearance. sasusaku


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

…

_Sasuke's chakra was depleted. He had used all of it on his most recent, failed attack. His black eyes searched the battlefield for his opponent. Sasuke had never been the kind to give up. The thought of Naruto came unbidden to his mind. Perhaps that idiot had rubbed off on him a little, although he still couldn't imagine himself leaving a fight, it was a sign of weakness after all._

_"I'm not weak anymore."_

"_Hmm, foolish little brother."_

_The words brought Sasuke out of his musings. It was bad if he was talking to himself in the middle of battle. A battle he had trained his entire life for. _

'_I'll have to close in on him and use Taijutsu.' _

_With a newfound resolve, Sasuke ran forward, and struck out with a precision that surprised even him. Unfortunately, Itachi's Susanoo was still too strong. Itachi was protected and Sasuke was thrown back. Itachi staggered towards his brother and Sasuke had the brief thought that perhaps he had wasted his entire life training._

_His thoughts were cut off when his brother began talking._

"_Forgive me Sasuke…it ends with this."_

_Sasuke felt the familiar poke on his forehead and his brother's eyes clouded over as he fell to the side in a pool of his own blood. Never before had the crimson color stood out so much. Sasuke waited for the satisfaction to come but instead his heart was filled with a sudden loneliness and a realization that he had lost his family, given up his friends, and now had killed the only person he had left. _

_Sasuke's eyes blurred and as he fell forward and his consciousness left him, the only thing he saw was the color red._

Sasuke awoke in a cold sweat. The dark red color of blood. It was all he ever dreamt about. Once it had been a color to symbolize strength, the leading color of his clan's emblem. Now he associated it with a depression worse than that of his past.

The nightmares had come almost instantly, at first only happening once, maybe twice a week. Yet now it had escalated to nearly every night. Sasuke supposed that's what came with moving back into the Uchiha district, yet having lost his old apartment, and wanting to be away from the glares and whispers of his past deeds, he found that his old home was the only acceptable lodging.

After his victory, which felt more like a loss than anything, he had made his way back to the village he once called home. Naruto and Sakura accepted him back with open arms, however not everyone was so happy. Sasuke requested permission to join Konoha once again and after arguing that he had defeated an S-class criminal for them, and after much begging on Naruto and Sakura's part, Tsunade agreed to let him stay. The first couple of months he was forced to live with one of his old teammates. Naruto's house was a pigsty but he supposed it was better than housing with someone he didn't trust. Eventually, Tsunade felt he could live on his own again.

When the Chuunin exams had come around he passed them with ease and eventually moved his way up to the anbu squad. The former team 7 fell into the old routine with ease. Oftentimes Naruto and Sasuke would go on missions together, even being accompanied by Sakura on occasion. They still met up to spar at the old training grounds and Naruto still demanded they go for ramen multiple times a week. They never asked him to explain what had happened just as he never discussed the years they had spent searching for him.

The sound of blood pouring out and the feel of being poked in the forehead faded as Sasuke reflected on his new life. Today Naruto was off on a solo mission and seeing as he wouldn't be sleeping again anytime soon, Sasuke decided to get up and head out to the training grounds.

* * *

Sakura was heading towards the Hokage's tower after being told mere minutes before that Tsunade wished to speak with her.

Sakura failed to come up with a reason her teacher would want to speak with her so early in the morning but before she knew it she was standing in front of the door. She knocked quietly and made her way inside.

"Sakura, I have a mission for you."

Sakura nodded for her to continue.

"As you know, recently the Hidden Village of Light has become more powerful. It seems their princess traveled to our village recently and they have agreed to form an alliance with us if we escort her home safely. I've decided to give this job to team 7, Kakashi will be accompanying you as well," Tsunade gave a sudden smile, "I know it seems like an easy job for the four of you, but if she has even a bruise then they will refuse the treaty. Not to mention I can tell you four have been trying to take missions together."

Sakura smiled in happiness. She hadn't seen Kakashi-sensei in quite some time, and although she saw Naruto and Sasuke nearly every day, they hardly got to spend more than a half hour of time together. She accepted the mission and Tsunade requested they gather at the gate in two hours time.

* * *

"Hey Sakura!" yelled Naruto happily as the pink haired kunoichi arrived.

"Hey Naruto, Sasuke-kun, and..Kakashi-sensei! You're actually on time?" Sakura asked, surprise clearly evident on her face.

"When have I ever been late?" he replied causing all three of his students to look at him skeptically.

A few minutes later Tsunade came walking up with a girl about the age of 13 wearing a beautiful blue kimono with silver dragons on it.

"Team 7, this is Mizuki, the princess. Mizuki, this is Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi. They'll be the team escorting you to your village." Tsunade stated.

Mizuki nodded her understanding.

"Well team," started Kakashi, "let's head out."

The journey to the Hidden Village of Light was very uneventful. There were no attacks and Sakura was beginning to think that the Kage of Light was just an overprotective parent. As usual the silence was filled with Naruto's voice, and occasionally Sakura would give her opinion on whatever meaningless topic he was rambling about.

They dropped Mizuki off at her village and after many 'thank you's and promises to sign the treaty, team 7 began its equally uneventful trip back. Halfway home it started to get dark and they decided to make camp.

After minutes of arguing it was finally settled that Sasuke and Sakura would share a tent while Naruto and Kakashi would share the other one. Something to do with it being inappropriate that Sakura shares a tent with their perverted teacher and neither Sakura nor Sasuke would be able to stand Naruto's obnoxiously loud snoring.

"'Goodnight Sasuke-kun," Sakura stated quietly before laying down to sleep.

"'Night" was the muffled reply she got from him.

* * *

A few hours later, Sakura was startled awake by a sharp intake of breath. Sitting up quickly she grabbed a kunai and glanced at her surroundings.

Not seeing anything out of the ordinary she glanced down at her teammate, wondering how he hadn't been woken up as well. Sakura's eyes widened upon seeing his shaking form and she quickly deduced that he had been the one to make the noise.

Deciding to comfort him, she started rubbing her hand along his back in soothing circles. His shaking slowed down and slowly his eyes opened up to stare into hers.

"Sakura?" he asked, surprised at first but then remembering the mission.

"Sasuke? Are you ok?"

Her question brought his mind back to the dream he was having. The crimson color flashed through his mind and the shaking started again. His eyes drifted shut and he tried to stop his body from moving. His eyes snapped open when he felt arms wrapping around his torso and pulling him closer to someone else.

Sakura held him, petting his hair and whispering soothing words into his ear until the shaking stopped.

"I may not know the details, but I know that it's not your fault."

He looked up at her sharply, breaking out of her hold and giving her an angry look.

She sat waiting for him to say something, and as his mouth opened to retort, his mind processed what she had said.

_It's not your fault._

Unwittingly his eyes started to water, and before he knew it he was crying, for the first time in years. He looked at her blankly and she stared back at him.

"You can tell me," she muttered quietly. She wasn't sure what she could do but more than anything she wanted this strong, fragile, crying boy to heal. She wanted the man she loved to stop hurting.

Sasuke lay back down, looking overhead without really seeing anything.

He murmured something and glanced at her.

"Hmm?" she asked.

"There was so much blood," he said finally, "I wasn't sure whether it was his or mine but it didn't matter because it was everywhere."

Slowly he described the battle to her, explaining his brother's final actions, and somewhere in the midst of it all he started shaking again and Sakura held him to her chest and listened intently to his story.

When he finished she told him again it wasn't his fault. She held him closely and as his shaking ceased and his eyes drifted closed for his first decent sleep in months her lips touched his forehead and she whispered her love to him, and when Sasuke pulled her closer to himself in response she knew that he heard and that he had accepted it, welcomed it even.

Starting tomorrow she would begin healing this broken man, this boy who had been through so much, and she knew that they would finally get their happily ever after.

_Fin._

I went back and read this story today and thought it was ridiculously terrible. I decided that I would either rewrite it or delete it and this is what happened. Hopefully it's a lot better than the old one, please read and review. Sorry for the cheesy ending, didn't know how else to cut it off.


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